We crossed from Alaska back into the Yukon Territory on July 27, via the very scenic Top of the World Highway, which provides good access to high, dry tundra. Just before reaching the Yukon River, we visited Orchid Acres, a phenomenal protected area containing thousands of Spotted Lady’s-Slippers, Cypripedium guttatum. Like the plants we had […]
The Dalton Highway
Leaving Fairbanks in dense smoke from wildfires, we took the Steese and Elliott Highways north about 80 miles to the beginning of the Dalton Highway, a.k.a. the Haul Road, which runs 414 miles one-way to the town of Deadhorse, the publicly accessible gateway to Prudhoe Bay. This road exists to support the oil fields, and […]
Where There’s Smoke …
After returning to Anchorage from Nome, we spent a few hours in a Barnes and Noble bookstore, treating ourselves to some actual physical books for our belated 33rd anniversary – nearly everything we read now is digital, on our Kindles (books) or Kindle Fire tablet (color magazines). Afterwards we had a superb seafood dinner and […]
There’s No Place Like Nome
Perhaps our most anticipated destination of the year, Nome is over 500 miles WNW of Anchorage, on the south side of the Seward Peninsula, along Norton Sound, which opens to the Bering Sea. Like the rest of the western half of Alaska, it cannot be reached by road, but uniquely among arctic destinations in North […]
West to Anchorage
After leaving British Columbia on the Cassiar Highway, we reached the Alaska Highway in the Yukon Territory (YT). An overnight stay in Watson Lake, YT to do errands was not very successful, though I did at least get the previous blog post published, while camped under an active and very noisy Common Raven nest! Proceeding […]
Eleven Degrees of Latitude
Despite being only the third largest province of Canada, British Columbia is more than twice the size of California. The western 2000 miles of the U.S.-Canada boundary lies on the 49th parallel, and the three sparsely populated Canadian territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut) have 60 degrees as their southern boundary, hence British Columbia spans […]
North to the Border
Having finished our loop back through southern California for wildflower displays, we started heading north on April 8, with a goal of crossing into Canada on May 5, when we had a ferry reservation from Port Angeles, WA to Vancouver Island, BC. We spent our first night in Morgan Hill with Rob, Tam, and Sierra […]
